Gaming machines, such as slot machines, video poker machines and the like, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for several years. Generally, the popularity of such machines with players is dependent on the likelihood (or perceived likelihood) of winning money at the machine and the intrinsic entertainment value of the machine relative to other available gaming options. Where the available gaming options include a number of competing machines and the expectation of winning at each machine is roughly the same (or believed to be the same), players are likely to be attracted to the most entertaining and exciting machines. Shrewd operators consequently strive to employ the most entertaining and exciting machines, features, and enhancements available because such machines attract frequent play and hence increase profitability to the operator. Therefore, there is a continuing need for gaming machine manufacturers to continuously develop new games and improved gaming enhancements that will attract frequent play through enhanced entertainment value to the player.
One concept that has been successfully employed to enhance the entertainment value of a game is the concept of a “secondary” or “bonus” game that may be played in conjunction with a “basic” game. The bonus wagering game may comprise any type of game, either similar to or completely different from the basic wagering game, which is entered upon the occurrence of a selected event or outcome in the basic wagering game. Generally, bonus wagering games provide a greater expectation of winning than the basic wagering game and may also be accompanied by more attractive or unusual video displays and/or audio. Bonus wagering games may additionally award players with “progressive jackpot” awards that are funded, at least in part, by a percentage of coin-in from the gaming-machine or a plurality of participating gaming machines.
Another way to increase the entertainment value of a game is to enhance the display of the gaming machines. For gaming machines with video displays, improvements in video technology have enabled the display of richer and more colorful graphics. For mechanical displays, however, the improvements early on were less technologically evolved. For example, some mechanical reel symbols were colored by simply backlighting the symbols with colored lighting elements. Sometimes the reel itself might contain electroluminescent elements that defined one or more reel symbols. To display a reel symbol in multiple colors or formats using such technology, multiple electroluminescent elements were needed for each reel symbol.
Recent advances in display technology, however, have made it possible to more easily modify the appearance of a mechanical display. For example, transmissive displays allow various video images to be superimposed on the mechanical display. A transmissive display, in essence, is a transparent video display that is mounted over the mechanical display. The transmissive display is operated to selectively present video images on top of the mechanical display. The video images may include translucent portions so that the underlying mechanical display is visible, but in a modified state (i.e., different color, texture, etc.). The video images may also include opaque portions so as to completely block out the underlying mechanical display. For information regarding the use of transmissive display technology in gaming machines, the reader is referred to commonly assigned U.S. Published Application No. 20040198485, entitled “Gaming Machine with Superimposed Display Image,” filed on Nov. 7, 2003 and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The above-described transmissive display technology gives wagering game designers the capability and flexibility to more easily design and modify the appearance of mechanical displays. However, in existing gaming machines, the transmissive display is employed primarily to enhance or supplement the wagering games that are displayed on the mechanical display. The transmissive display has not heretofore been used to display its own wagering game separate and distinct from the wagering game on the mechanical display. As a result, most existing gaming machines are limited to only the wagering game displayed on the mechanical display.
Accordingly, there is a need to develop new and improved gaming machines that take full advantage of the capabilities of transmissive display technology to enhance the entertainment value of the gaming machines.